Dad speaks out for better access
Graeme and daughter Rachel walking with their dog Jordie
Seven-year-old Rachel Innes likes to dance, listen to music, swim and hang out with her dad.
The latter isn't always that easy, according to the man in question, Graeme Innes, who has been blind since birth.
The Deputy Disability Discrimination Commissioner with the Commonwealth Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Graeme Innes was the guest speaker at the Disability Action Week Awards luncheon in Brisbane in July.
He told the 400 guests how access issues impacted on his relationship with his daughter.
"Like her friends Rachel wants her dad to take her places and be like everyone else," said the 49-year-old father-of-two from Sydney.
"But she can't because dad has a disability."
"These things are not impossible but the community has erected barriers for me - barriers like inaccessible internet sites, community information only available in print, no announcements on buses and trains and no audio information in lifts."
The solicitor and mediator amused the gathering when he told of the difficulties he once encountered in a lift at a Brisbane bank building.
"There was no audio announcing the floors and I didn't know where to get off," he recalled.
Graeme and Rachel playing together
"Another person got into the lift and I asked him what floor I was at.
"He didn't reply so I asked him a second time."
"Still no reply so the third time I asked him, I tapped him on the shoulder.
"The man said, 'I'm sorry, I thought you were talking to your (guide) dog'."
On a commercial note, Graeme said the might of the disability market had largely gone unnoticed.
"While few people would question the wisdom of the Australian tourism sector targeting people who play golf, only the most astute operators have seen the potential of targeting the disability sector," he said.
"This is strange because more people use a wheelchair or some other mobility aid in everyday life (533 600) than all the people who belong to golf clubs (483 752)."Graeme said society had to become more inclusive.
"Rachel's dad and four million other Australians with a disability don't want sympathy, to be patronised or to be made special or different," he said.
"We just want barriers removed so we can be just like everyone else - just as clever, just as cute, just as caring and just as cranky."
Last updated November 2007